The newspaper’s new editorial argues against the proposal to eliminate special elections to fill mid-term vacancies in the California Legislature and instead let the governor simply appoint replacements.

Here are some more thoughts on the remarkable eagerness of some people to give up their votes:

• It’s true that this year has brought a lot of these special elections, forced by a rash of resignations of Assembly members and state legislators, including some who moved on to other offices. But is this necessarily a trend?

There have been eight special elections for the state Legislature in 2013, including Tuesday’s contest in the 54th Assembly District to replace newly elected Sen. Holly Mitchell. But there were 10 back in 1993, the first year after new term limits spoiled some politicians’ plans for long careers in the capitol. That was a one-time spike, and maybe this year’s rise is too. There were four special elections in 2009, four in 2011.

They may seem incessant to people who follow politics statewide. But to a typical voter they are rare, local events. Nobody in Encino, looking at last month’s Assembly contest, said: “Oh, no, not another special election! There was one in Fresno just last spring!”

• Another argument for changing the system comes from The Bakersfield Californian’s Robert Price (“Obliging the ambition of oath breakers”). He says having the governor name replacements would be a way to punish lawmakers who leave office early.

He has a reason for saying that, but from here it sounds more like a way to punish voters.

• The generally low turnout for stand-alone special elections is a weak excuse for taking this power away from voters. A half-dozen legislative special elections since 2010 had turnouts higher than the 23.5 percent of registered voters who cast ballots in the runoff for Los Angeles mayor this year, and three of those were higher than the 31.7 percent who voted in the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial primary.

A disappointing level of interest is why you cancel sitcoms, not democracy. If citizens are disengaged, the solution is not to give them less to engage with. Citizens have to know their votes matter, and eliminating some elections sends the opposite message.

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